Ubuntu as an example has not shipped /usr/bin/python as Python 3 because Python 2 still can be installed. Only when python-is-python3 is installed (not a default) it does that.
I'm against deprecation as well because I think the assumption here is wrong that 'most distributions ship python as python3'. Thomas Sent from my T-Mobile 5G Device -------- Original message -------- From: Jerome Kieffer <[email protected]> Date: 11/12/25 12:01 (GMT-05:00) To: [email protected] Subject: Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python Hi, I am against deprecating python3 ... it is used a bit everywhere and every `venv` provides both python and python3. What will occur when python4 arrives ? Cheers, Jerome On Wed, 12 Nov 2025 10:49:08 -0500 Antoine Beaupré <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi! > > Debian has shipped Python 3 as /usr/bin/python3 for a while now. For > some time, we've also shipped a python-is-python3 package that ships a > symlink from /usr/bin/python to /usr/bin/python as well, but it's not > installed by default. > > I'm assuming that most distributions outside of Debian, at this point, > have shipped /usr/bin/python as Python 3 for couple of years, as far as > I know (although I haven't surveyed that formally). > > I've been wondering whether it's time we finally make this > change. Concretely, I think it means: > > 1. deprecating /usr/bin/python3 > 2. shipping Python 3 as /usr/bin/python directly > > I think we should do this for Debian 14 (forky), and stop shipping > python3 altogether in Debian 15 (?). > > Thoughts? > > A. > -- > If ease of use was the ultimate aim for a tool, > the bicycle would never have evolved beyond the tricycle. > — Doug Engelbart, 1925-2013 > -- Jérôme Kieffer tel +33 476 882 445
